The Kickstarter for the World of Warcraft Diary, by John Staats, WoW's first 3D level designer, is almost finished! With less than 40 hours left on the clock, make sure to pledge you would like to receive all the perks from the Kickstarter edition. We've received the news today that the World of Warcraft Diary became the #1 Non-fictional book ever funded on Kickstarter!\r\rClick here to support The WoW Diary Kickstarter! Less than 40 hours left to pledge as the publishing of this post!\r\rSince the community has embraced this project so heavily, it is important to note that the Kickstarter Edition will have special perks. These will not be obtainable fro the versions later available on Amazon and other retailers:\r\r The end sheet of the book will be gold that reads \u201cOriginal Kickstarter Backer" followed the publisher Whenitsready logo.\r Gold foil title lettering on spine and front cover differentiates Kickstarter editions from non-KS prints.\r Spot varnishing makes all the pictures shiny and opens an opportunity for shiny "ghost shapes" on an otherwise blank page.\r\r\rBesides that, there are extra surprises in the Kickstarter edition, based on achievements unlocked during the campaign, such as a secret bookmark. It has two Easter eggs, one of which refers to something in the book, the other won\u2019t be apparent until Whenitsready releases its next project, a dungeon-based board game. The Golden Kickstarter version of this bookmark will never be reprinted again (extras will be destroyed at the printer). \r\rFour Developers: How The WoW Diary Happened\rJohn Staats also published a story on how the Kickstarter came to be--including Blizzard's reaction to the Kickstarter and how he picked himself up after the first failed Kickstarter to relaunch with record-breaking success. You can read the whole story on his blog. Below is a small preview.\r\rI also pitched my book to Shane Dabiri, who had worked his way up from QA to Blizzard\u2019s Chief of Staff. Shane and I were once housemates during our WoW years, when he was the team\u2019s producer for art assets; sharing project leadership with Mark Kern, our producer for programming. Producers, in case you didn\u2019t know, are people who enable others to achieve their goals. They grease the gears between departments and clear roadblocks. They enable other developers to get things done. Shane was WoW\u2019s project lead until the pressure gave him ulcers, leaving Mark to carry the banner throughout the remainder of the dev cycle. Shane knew, as did everyone on team 2, that I\u2019d kept a development diary about how we were making World of Warcaft. I interviewed everyone on the team, took screenshots, and chronicled our milestones and setbacks. Everyone was vaguely aware I might write a blog or book about it one day, and Shane was one of the guys who was most curious about my journal. I guessed that he would be sympathetic to my pitch about an independent publication, a voice from outside the communal direction of Blizzard\u2019s PR department.\r\rI surprised him with the book over lunch, the first time we\u2019d seen each other in many years. As Shane paged through the prototype, I explained myself. He was grinning at the memories. After a long pause, he closed it and said carefully, \u201cOK\u2026I get it.\u201d He held it aloft and continued, \u201cOther people in the company will need to read this, and you know I can\u2019t promise anything\u2026but we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d It was the best response that I could have hoped for.\r\rThe WoW Diary (in its current form) could have died right there if Shane had reacted otherwise. He could have been too busy or forgotten about it; he could have avoided many conversations about it and set it aside or referred me to someone else\u2014who wouldn\u2019t be as sympathetic toward my goal; or a dozen different things could have derailed it. Somehow, someone (I\u2019m assuming it was Shane) had pushed it through the many departments in charge of scrutinizing such content. I\u2019d gotten a license to use Blizzard\u2019s images and, best of all, no substantial changes were made: Aside from a few corrections, the narrative was completely intact.\r\rRead the Full Story on John Staat's Blog!\r\rClassiCast Interviews\rClassiCast, a podcast dedicated to WoW Classic hosted by Esfand, Staysafe, and Tipsout, has recently interviewed John Staats and Mark Kern in two episodes, that can be watched below.\r\r\r\r\r

Commentaires

Commentaire de avatarofshadow

on 2018-09-23T23:56:57-05:00

Do I get my dollar back this month since I've had to see all the ***ADS*** for this thing ?

Commentaire de perculia

on 2018-09-24T00:16:59-05:00

Do I get my dollar back this month since I've had to see all the ***ADS*** for this thing ?\r\rThere is no paid promotion between Wowhead and the WoW Diary kickstarter--a large number of community resources have worked hard to promote the project, including Reddit, since we believe it is important to tell WoW's early story, and we're all excited it has crushed all the goals. Hitting #1 and beating out mainstream book projects is a newsworthy topic.

Commentaire de Heilkraft

on 2018-09-24T00:21:08-05:00

Maybe it will have better luck this time around. The first one flopped.

Commentaire de KaptainKrunk

on 2018-09-24T02:03:09-05:00

The Kickstarter tiers mention an ebook version when funded, even on physical tiers. Does that mean backers should receive an ebook version tomorrow?

Commentaire de Hyrican

on 2018-09-24T02:12:57-05:00

31$ is too expensive for a book delivery from US to EU with actual prices more like <10$. Same prices than the middle of africa... I don't believe there are many international funders.

Commentaire de Kennox

on 2018-09-24T02:28:11-05:00

Do I get my dollar back this month since I've had to see all the ***ADS*** for this thing ?

There is no paid promotion between Wowhead and the WoW Diary kickstarter--a large number of community resources have worked hard to promote the project, including Reddit, since we believe it is important to tell WoW's early story, and we're all excited it has crushed all the goals. Hitting #1 and beating out mainstream book projects is a newsworthy topic.

Oh is that how it works?Do i get my money back every time you post about Method then ?

Commentaire de Archimtiros

on 2018-09-24T02:31:24-05:00

Do i get my money back every time you post about Method then ?

You and the other poster seem to not understand what the word "news" means.

Commentaire de Reanimatez

on 2018-09-24T02:56:04-05:00

Do i get my money back every time you post about Method then ?

You and the other poster seem to not understand what the word "news" means.

All I understand is that someone owes me $10 so I can go get me a sub

Commentaire de Stumpy2

on 2018-09-24T02:57:23-05:00

31$ is too expensive for a book delivery from US to EU with actual prices more like <10$. Same prices than the middle of africa... I don't believe there are many international funders.\r\rYeah .. I was about to fund that ... and then saw that it would cost me around double just to get it delivered. That's just too much. I'll just hope it goes onto Amazon .. I'd be happy to pay the extra \u00a38 or whatever that they'd charge, if it saves me \u00a330+. \r\rAnd if you look at the FAQ, he can't even guarantee that you won't pay import duties. "Overseas costs will include additional fees from an EU-based fulfillment company and I am working to pay for the import fees. I cannot 100% guarantee this until I sign a quote from overseas fulfillment partners--and I am still working on getting paperwork together for this. " From what I can tell for me in the UK, that could be another \u00a315-\u00a325 on top again.

Commentaire de Mwar

on 2018-09-24T03:18:35-05:00

Shouldn't this just be a Wikipedia entry, not a book?

Commentaire de darthgummibear

on 2018-09-24T03:25:22-05:00

We're kickstarting books, now?

Commentaire de maurotdo

on 2018-09-24T04:09:07-05:00

31$ is too expensive for a book delivery from US to EU with actual prices more like <10$. Same prices than the middle of africa... I don't believe there are many international funders.\r\rSame here... it's a shame i can't get the KS edition, but i'll live with it and get the one from Amazon.

Commentaire de exceptionalskill

on 2018-09-24T05:09:20-05:00

Maybe it will have better luck this time around. The first one flopped.\r\rThis is your 2nd reply this year and it's such utter garbage? What luck will it have? It's the most funded non-fiction project, what better luck does it need?

Commentaire de Harmful2327

on 2018-09-24T07:29:13-05:00

So expensive for eastern Europe.

Commentaire de weedian

on 2018-09-24T07:40:12-05:00

Even us Canadians have to pay the very high shipping cost as you folks in Europe. I'm taking the hit because this is very cool.

Commentaire de strangewayes3

on 2018-09-24T08:53:08-05:00

The international charges aren't their fault. As someone who sells used books online, a book of that size - which easily weighs 5-7 pounds - is very expensive to ship overseas. Even most board games aren't that heavy. In the states, you can use Media Mail, which is very cheap, but outside of the US, there just isn't any good alternative. However, I don't know much about having items printed overseas so you can sell them from there.

Shouldn't this just be a Wikipedia entry, not a book?

Its an entire developer's journal chronicling his experience since before wow started.

Commentaire de GatesVengeance

on 2018-09-24T09:52:58-05:00

Just pledged for the $40..$49 with shipping. Cant wait!

Commentaire de zombiemall

on 2018-09-24T10:08:38-05:00

if you don't want to pay the shipping, wait until it's available on Amazon and buy it there. Yes, it will lack all the special elements the kickstarter edition will have, but Amazon has a bit more... "pull" when it comes to shipping than the printer does. Amazon can simply buy in bulk from the printer and because they ship thousands of items internationally daily, they can command a lower shipping rate.

Commentaire de kalmtraveler

on 2018-09-24T10:13:16-05:00

71$ For a Book is really tough. Waiting for Amazon.

Commentaire de qaccy

on 2018-09-24T10:32:18-05:00

Based on the comments here, almost sounds like the type of person who leaves comments on Wowhead isn't the intended audience for this book. It got pretty heavily funded though, so hopefully that means it'll be a successful venture.